


Sun Brothers

by orphan_account



Category: DCU (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Moral Dilemmas, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-27
Updated: 2015-08-27
Packaged: 2018-04-17 12:38:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4666809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They would never be more than conversations on the roof, yet that was... enough. Unashamed sentimental fluff that turned kind of bittersweet. A look at a friendship that really should be canon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sun Brothers

It was high noon, but the moon was out; it was a very specific moon.

‘Apollo,’ Superman lit on the roof where the other super was stretched out, arms in front of him like a relaxed cat, white hair falling over his face, somehow not hiding his smug little smirk.

‘Kal,’ Apollo said in that rich voice of his, and _stretched_ , rolling over. ‘Been a while, how are you? How was space-jail?’

‘I’m not even going to _ask_ how you knew that,’ Superman shook his head fondly, as always _not_ looking at the white thong Apollo was wearing. At least he _was_ wearing something.

‘Your boyfriend’s kids saved the world, did you hear?’ Apollo said, eyes closed, smile beatific. He opened his eyes with a cattish frown when Superman blocked the light.

‘You’re a menace,’ Superman was smiling, before sitting down next to his old friend. ‘I was wondering when you’d come looking for me.’

‘We’ve kept tabs,’ Apollo said simply.

‘Spies.’

‘Don’t let M hear you call us that,’ Apollo said, eyes falling closed again, voice warm and lazy from the sun. ‘Join me?’ he asked, as he always did.

‘No, Apollo.’ Superman answered, like he always did. He took a deep breath, ‘he’s not my boyfriend—’

Apollo sighed. ‘Missing. Ou—’

‘He’s my fiancé,’ Superman finished, and listened to the silence.

‘…We-ell!’ Apollo said, all smiles. ‘Congratulations! Wedding of the century! When? Is there a ring yet?’ He greatly enjoyed the blush on Kal’s face.

‘Soon,’ Kal answered, but he couldn’t stop smiling.

‘You _two_ ,’ Apollo said, laying back down and smiling to himself. ‘It’s like watching my sons finally get what they deserve, honestly. So, how many stepkids do you have now? Seven? Twelve?’

‘They’re _kids_ , we’re not going to do the step… thing. And that’s classified.’

Apollo opened one eye, and just waited.

‘…Five. Six, counting Kon.’

‘Ah yes, the clone.’

‘Don’t call him that,’ Superman said sternly. ‘He has a name.’

‘And rights,’ Apollo said, and Superman paused, narrowing his eyes at the enormous, worrying cat-that-got-the-canary smile on his admittedly far more bloodthirsty friend’s face.

‘What did you _do_?’

‘Nothing,’ Apollo said innocently. ‘Why would you think I did anything, Kal?’ His smile _curled_ at the ends. ‘My _husband_ , on the other hand…’

‘Apollo!’

‘You’re _welcome_.’ Apollo said, stretching again, and sighing. ‘Honestly, I thought you’d understand, being a parent.’

‘I wouldn’t _compromise my morals_ , what kind of example—’

‘You're a _parent_ , you don't get the luxury of _principles_ , Kal.’ Apollo never raised his voice, but it would have been a shout if he’d been anyone else, just then.

Kal wished, often, that he and Apollo could be better friends; but it was moments like this, _choices_ like this, that made it impossible for him to ever really vouch for them, the few times—very few—that Apollo and Midnighter’s names had come up for consideration in the Justice League. Yes, it had been useful to have an angry god from on high come down to face Superman when Kal had been young and overly forceful and stupid; but despite teaching Superman how to be himself, how to actually _be_ a hero, Apollo did not share the same definition of hero. He killed, he stood by and let his husband torture and kill. It was something they just had to never talk about, but it came up sometimes nevertheless, and Kal’s heart broke all over again every time.

And it wasn’t that Kal couldn’t understand why; that was exactly why it was so hard—because crossing that line would be so _easy_. _Too_ easy. Kal sighed.

‘I’m not going to thank you,’ he said, clenching his fists hard, his habit when he was trying to keep from crying—because he cried so easily, he really did, and heroes weren’t _allowed_ , not really. ‘But.’

He felt a warm hand on his back. ‘And I’m not going to ask your forgiveness.’ Apollo found Kal’s gaze, not quite smiling, but not frowning either. ‘But,’ he said, and offered a manila envelope. When Superman took it, Apollo stepped away; Kal heard him shaking out his towel, rolling it up.

‘You should be getting an invitation,’ Superman said.

‘I look forward to it.’

‘He’s not my son.’ Kal was used to correcting people, by now, and barely had to think about it as he pulled open the envelope, wondering what was inside. ‘He’s my little brother.’

‘Of course he is.’ Apollo didn’t sound at all convinced, hearing the shuffle of papers. ‘But of course, you’re not doing the step-kid thing, so he’ll be your son soon, if I know your fiancé’s penchant for scrappy boys chock-full of vengeful anger….’

‘Apollo…’ Kal was staring numbly at the papers—the birth certificate from Douglas County, Kansas was on top, certified and with the first name blank, last name ‘Kent’… and there were vaccination records, a social security card... everything to prove that Kon-El was a person, had human rights, was not an object owned by Lex Luthor.

Apollo was gone.

* * *

Lois went looking for Superman after she checked twitter and found a bunch of sightings that he’d been sitting on the roof of the Daily Planet for some hours, and found him holding the contents of a manila envelope and crying. He mutely showed them to her when he heard her come up beside, and she looked them over, before gently taking them and sliding them back into the envelope, putting her arms around him.


End file.
